This is the third of my three-part blog on the top priority of leadership. Every leader who wants to be led by the Spirit will be looking to produce certain effects in the people and in the culture where they are leading—in particular, increased levels of freedom and safety. In the last blog, I explored the nature of biblical freedom. Now I want to dig in to the idea of safety

These days, a lot of people seem to think that freedom means license to do whatever they choose—and even to avoid any negative consequences for their choices. It also seems to be a common belief that freedom is something we humans create for ourselves—that it is bestowed on us by society, won and defended by the military, or achieved through laws and politics.

Are the terrible twos real? Well, if we want them to be, maybe. Lack of vocabulary, grandiose demands, and a high need for independence equals an enormous task of patience for those of us navigating these toddler waters. Most of the time, I tend to think toddlers are just curious little people desperately trying to figure out the world.

A warm fire, the smell of turkey in the oven, and smiling friends and family around the dinner table. A perfect scene.

Thanksgiving is a time of giving thanks and POTENTIAL connection--families gathered with open hearts of love for each other, experiencing the joy of holiday traditions. One of the most important things in life is being thankful for the value we have around us in the form of our closest relationships.

Within seconds after birth as you hold your child in your arms and look into those precious eyes, you know it--this life is completely dependent upon you.

The power of love parents have for their children is a force unmatched. As parents, we have a built in capacity to love and shape the lives we have been entrusted with. We may have the best intentions when they are born to love them to the best of our ability, but unless we spend time cultivating what we value, our best intentions will fall short.

In this track, we go after the pressure we all feel to be PERFECT parents. As if just surviving as a parent wasn't enough, our culture can often make us feel like we're not doing enough or saying it right or should be doing this and not doing that.

When God’s presence shows up in an environment, He creates freedom. Sadly, this truth remains a mystery to a lot of people, because in so many places that claim to have God showing up, there’s anything BUT freedom

When establishing and maintaining an environment of honor, I am not only responsible to give good feedback and engage others with effective confrontation—I must also be approachable to receive feedback.

We simply cannot grow and build meaningful connections if we don’t hear about how the people around us are experiencing us. Feedback gives us the information we need to take responsibility for how we are affecting our environment and adjust in order to protect what is important to us.

One of the goals of confrontation is to restore a right relationship. In a confrontation, we are looking for repentance in the heart of the individual when we offer opportunities for grace to be extended.

Ladies, we are 100% a new a creation and we are one 100% filled with the Holy Spirit. That means we have the same newness and the same fullness as men. So this question remains: “What are we going to do with ourselves?”

As leaders, it is our responsibility to create an environment where people feel honored, and therefore, safe to be confronted. There will be no culture of honor without the active use of effective confrontation. The skill of combining these two relational elements-honor and confrontation- is the key to sustaining an environment of grace.